Olmec was angry at us.  We have no other explanation.  We can only apologize and get back to offering appropriate platitudes and vexations at the Great Stone One, merciless master of all things random number (note: this does not include the absolutely rigged seedings in cup groupings and initial tourney pairings).  How do we know that Olmec was angry at us?  And why is an Anteater making out with Rockhead himself?  Read on, dear fearless BUM Report aficionado, for a feast of happenings over the past five sessions whilst worries of the world have kept us from more important matters!

We'll start with Blowouts, which as you can imagine we've had a few in the past few sessions.  For all who thought that your high-20-something might gather our attention, you are mistaken!  We're picking up the action with a 3-way tie at +37 going back to session 6!  By now, many of you have forgotten the goings-on that were non-conference matches 17 & 18.  We have not.  In match 17, Dallas traveled to Santa Clara, in a matchup of one of the biggest and baddest members of (mostly) domesticated canines and one of the littlest and maddest membres: Bulldogs vs. Chihuahuas in the Battle of the Bone!  Of course, Craig refuses to be pigeon holed or stereotyped in any way, shape or fashion, and is contrary enough to have refused to show up with anything more than the Pound Puppies for this one.  Their 65-rated team was thoroughly trounced by the Diminuative Doggies in near-equal sets of ankle biting fury: 12-25, 13-25, 13-25!  Martyn's Mutts now hold Canine dominance across the league (we'll spare you depictions of the post-match display that resulted in more than a little fine against Santa Clara for indecent behavior).  Immediately following, in match 18, we had Red Stick traveling to the coastal climes of San Jose.  The Crustacean Crew put out a 91 home line to welcome Senator Mike and the Fightin' Fern Fruit!  Mike was ready for the action and posted a road 99!... er, sorry, that card was upside down. That's a 66. A "C" average, as in "Crushed by the Crustaceans."  They opened with a 9-point set, and finished with a 10-point set, with an almost-respectable 19-25 set in the middle somehow, which I'm blaming on San Jose's coach losing control of the crew and all of them hitting with their off hands all set.  They 'only' hit .526 in set 2, while sets 1 and 3 were as hot as the sandy beaches on a mid-afternoon cloudless summer day, topping .800 hitting in both sets!  Congrats all around to Vick for the +37 blowout!

For our third +37 blowout, we'll take a quick detour to the opening round of the Big 8 conference tournament.  Pekin (96!) hosting Portland (60).  The +36 ratings is a top-three difference on our season-to-date.  The resulting match isn't quite a top 3, yet hit the magic number to complete our opening trio here!  9-25 in the opening set, and then the Legume Legion let off the pressure and the 'Jacks managed double-digit sets at 13 & 16 to keep this one from hitting the +40 blowout range.  Almost a waste of the solid A lineup from the Pod People.  Almost, because it was good enough for tying our #4 blowout of the past four sessions, so congrats to Roger!

At #3 we're shift all the way back to conference play in match 14, Santa Clara this time on the road, traveling to the northern scapes of Denali, where the Livid Lupines were not nearly as nice to the Pint-Sized Pooches as Dallas was.  Andy had The Pack whipped to howling fury by the time Martyn's boys were entering the gym.  Though Santa Clara made a stronger effort in set two (16-25), they started slow (10-25) and then were completely overrun in the third set by their long-legged cousins to the tune of 7-25, a merciless showing worthy of the compassionless great white north, and a +42 Blowout. Congrats, Andy!

At #2, we return to the Conference Tourney opening round, this time in the SEC.  Starkville keep us with our Canine theme, as the Bloodhounds hosted their natural enemies, the Kittens of Kentucky.  Not sure where the Panthers were this session, yet it was certainly not Mississippi.  The Kittens rolled out a 57 lineup, 33 less than Eduard's home 90.  The opening result was brutal, with Matthew's Mewlers escaping with a mere 6 points in set 1.  Though they'd redeem themselves to double that (and then one) in the other two sets, matching 13-25 beatdowns, there was no doubt and never any danger for the 'Hounds who treed the Kittens and sat and waited for the end of the hunt to come quickly.  +43 points later, we offer congrats to Eduard for the second-best blowout of the past month!

And topping our blowouts, we move to the conference tourney semis!  Returning to the Big 8, and again traveling to Pekin where this time the Pod People were welcoming the Gourd Heads.  Sadly, Max sent the scarecrow version of the Scarecrows, with barely-stuffed shirts and drooping pumpkins, like a Halloween display left out until nearly Thanksgiving, sitting through multiple dreary rains and several morning frosts.  67 v 97 were the ratings.  The final tally wasn't that close.  Though the 'Crows put up better numbers than Kentucky's opening set, they still got more than doubled-up in every set!  10-25, 8-25, 12-25, and the +45 rout was on, in high gear, and then over in near-record time for the season!  The +45 final blowout was good for #1 in the past month, and #2 on the season-to-date, so congrats to Roger, who continues to prove that there is no worse place to play than Pekin!

Blowouts aside, we now turn to the Upsets of the past month-plus of matches, where there were unheard of events to reveal!  We're not even going to rank these, and instead will offer them to be appreciated in their own unique flavor combinations of results, with the exception of noting the two things that as far as we can tell, have never happened before!  Those faint-of-heart and self-assured that double-digit ratings-advantages will keep you safe from upsets, look away now!  We'll start with our Upset Sweeps, which were all the rage in opening tourney rounds of all places!  Match 22, TMVL Cup round 1, and San Diego put out a milder lineup at 72 (neutral court) against the then-best-league-record Burlington BullyFrogs.  Aires was playing for some Cup glory.  Matt was playing for yet another Team Xiphos upset, and he achieved it with the Swordfishes' usual swishy and fishy flair!  Despite the -9 ratings disadvantage, San Diego kept it close in the opening set and pulled out the 25-23 victory. They then followed up with the same score in set 2!  Clearly unable to get their tongues around the BladeBeaks' brutal attacks, the 'Frogs were backed into a foodball that was sliced apart 25-18 in set three to give San Diego the -9 upset and also the top Upset Sweep of the season-to-date!  Congrats, Matt!

Though not as highly-upsettled, another upset sweep occurred on a bigger stage.  Match 32.  Opening round of the National Tourney (neutral court).  Baton Rouge is no stranger to the National stage.  Then again, neither is Columbia.  The Round Red Regiment put out a solid 88.  Red Stick brought a roster of 84-rated players to the fight.  Despite the clear edge at serve and attack, Columbia could muster neither in consistent streaks, and dropped the first set 25-19!  They would rally closer at 25-23 in set 2, and then as the light faltered into the evening, they never quite got vine-ripened for the victory with Baton Rogue taking set 3 25-21, for the combined Upset Sweep at -4, yet of a top team in the National Championship bracket!  Congrats to Mike!

In the most-recent session, we find ourselves back in conference play, with Porkopolis traveling to face the Fightin' Fungi in Shroomtown.  Mendon had a strong home lineup prepared, with a 91-rated team.  Cinci brought a road-respectable 84, not quite their best, yet nothing to snort at either.  The opening set was worthy of the slugfest between these two teams vying for Big East dominance!  31-29 was the final tally, with the Hogs getting a taste for "not-truffle yet worth rooting out anyway"!  The second set also ended tightly at 25-23, and then the mushrooms wilted and slunk back to the soil pits in the gym basement after the finishing 25-17 final set that gave James and the Flying Piggies a -7 Upset Sweep, #2 on the season-to-date, and propelling them into a tie for the conference lead!  Congrats to JT and Porkopolis!

Sweeps aside, there were bigger upsets in store for us all...

Match 22, TMVL Cup opening round, is worthy to note because of who we're noting.  Antioch is not one for upsets.  Rob's team has never had more than two upsets in a season, and their biggest ever was only a -3.  Until now!  Mat-Su was the clear neutral court favo(u)rite with an 88-rated team looking for a bearded beatdown of the GlowGuppies.  Rob didn't even bring his top line, wiht a mid-range team rated at 79.  The opening sets were right to form and where the bookies had this one set.  25-17 and 25-22, and Bryce was already getting the bus warmed up.  And then the Denizens of the Deep looked upon the still waters and saw a reflection. A reflection of scores. It was fated to be.  With swaying lighted lures keeping the Meese off rhythm and unsure of where the ball was in the midst of dancing dongles, 25-17, 25-22 was met with sets 3 and 4 at 22-25 and 17-25, reciprocating return and revenge for the opening sets!  Now into set 5, would we see a 15-15 mirror before Rob's hopes were once again knocked down by a 5-set gut punch?!  No!  They didn't even let it get to that this time, as Antioch pulled off the 5-set Upset at -9, Rob's highest upset ever!  Congrats to the Anglerfish (that felt weird typing that, like I've never done it before...) for the -9 Upset, tying our fourth-highest mark of the season!

Hey, Bryce? Don't wander off yet.  We're not done with the Meese... Match 26. Non-conference. Burlington (75) at Mat-Su (85). And this right after match 25 where the Mighty Meese brought a road 88 to Muletown, only to get bit by the Rabid Ones in a 4-set -4 upset (mini congrats to Al!).  Back-to-back upsets in store?  Yep.  Clearly, it is the start of hunting season in North America, and Moose is on the menu.  The BullyFrogs were fearless from the first whistle, taking set 1 25-17.  While the Moose rallied to get set 2 in extra points 24-26, they couldn't keep momentum and fell to matching 25-22 sets 3 & 4, with Aires taking home the double-digit upset at -10, tied for third-best on the season to date!  Congrats to Aires, and commisserations to Bryce for the lack of luck in the past few sessions.  We promise you the Moose are better than their record indicates, if you're playing them in the last two sessions!

That leaves us Four Upsets to mention, and we're going to roll them into a unified theme with a quick tag-on.  Expect detail, as this blood-letting has reached unprecidented proportions.

David is not a stranger to upsets. Anyone remember Super Vermilingua from last season's BUM reports?  He's still there.  He just hides behind the suit and glasses and falsetto voice to keep us guessing.  We're guessing no more.  The Anteaters just threw down a guantlet of gargantuan size, to which none of us had an answer.  Were going in reverse order to heighten what happened.  Match 30, TMVL Cup round 2.  Denali came to play, with a neutral court 89.  Arlington brought most of their starters too, coming in at 81.  Still, -8?  In the Cup?  Andy's Angry Army rolled early 25-21 and 25-23, and then had match point in sight before mis-hitting key points to allow the Anteaters to take set 3 26-28, and then rally in set 4 22-25!  The fifth set wasn't close for long, and the Anteaters won 9-15 to pull off the neutral court -8 Upset in the TMVL Cup!  But this was not an isolated incident.  Rewind with me one match, to match 29, conference play in the Big 8. Arlington rolled north to St. Charles where the 'Crows were rated +8 (64 v 72), and took the opening set 12-25.  They doubled-up the Vermilingua!  I don't know if this angered the Anteaters, or just amused Olmec, the next three sets went the other way, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20 and the Anteaters pulled off the 4-set upset of Mad Max!  -8 Upsets back-to-back!  We've not seen this before!  And yet.  Olmec was done.  Remember the column header, and how Olmec may be mad at the BUM Report and head writer/Swamp RatPack Big Cheese Kevin?  Let's rewind one match earlier for Arlington.  That's right.  Three-in-a-row, and this the biggest of 'em all.  As in: Biggest Upset of All Time!

Match 26. Non-Conference. Arlington (67) at New Orleans (85). +18-rated, at home.  Arlington took the opening set in extra points, 28-26. The Rats were scratching their heads (and not just because of the fleas).  Set 2?  25-21 Anteaters.  The Swamp was the kind of quiet it gets right before a predator takes down unsuspecting prey. While set 3 brought a little relief at 22-25, it was short-lived as Arlington finished off the Rats 25-17 in set 4 for the 4-set -18 Upset, the largest upset ever recorded in TMVL History! And this match kicked off a never-seen-before THREE MATCHES IN A ROW with Upsets at -18, -8 & -8! Whatever David offered to Olmec was worth it's weight in ziggurat steps climbed!

How, might you ask, does a team get out-played when they average 18-ratings-points better than the other team?  We had to look ourselves, utterly unsure of what we did wrong.  Let me lay out the lineups and compare how they fared in the "random" number rolls:
Serving. Arlington's best was 14. N'Orleans had 4 of 6 servers better than that. For the match, Arlington served .919, with 8 aces to 8 errors. The Rats served .778 with just 3 aces to 20 service errors! 20 with a team of mostly 15+ servers!
Maybe the Anteaters were just better at Receiving?  Arlington's receivers (OH & L): 15, 15, 11. N'Orleans: 17, 16, 12. The Rats received at a .912 clip, with 8 errors. Arlington at .957 with 3 errors.
What about setting? Arlington's 11-rated setter was .551 for the match, leading to a .323 attack percentage. N'Orleans had an 18-rated setter, who just outset the opponent at .556, with only a .358 attack percentage as a team.
Well, it was because the hitters were worse, yes? Nope. Better down the whole roster, and even crazier in the final result, N'Orleans had MORE kills in each set and still lost! Set 1: 20 (.455 hitting) to 13 (.286). Set 2: 13 (.391) to 12 (.381). Set 3: 14 (.360) to 13 (.192) and set 4 where the wheels came off 12 (.200) to 12 (.500).
How does one out-hit the opponent and lose? Add in the digs, which though nearly equal should probably not have been, with N'Orleans Def ratings vs. Arlington's at 18,17,15,12,12 to 11,11,10,9,9 (not counting MBs who only play half-time). All 5 Rats were better defenders than the Anteaters' best, and Arlington out-dug 26 to 23.  Blocking?  N'Orleans' worst was a 12 (19,18,17,16,12,12) compared to Arlington's 15,13,11,11,10,10.  Arlington nearly doubled the Rats on blocks, 14 to 25.  All told, how does a team lose when up +18 ratings per player on average?  A slow bleed at every possible point in the possessions.  5 more aces, 12 less service errors, 5 fewer receiving errors, 3 more digs, 11 more blocks.  That's 36 points better than a 50-50 split on luck, which is why Arlington just pulled off the largest upset in history.

How many times in the last 4+ seasons (since the BUM Archives started tracking) have we seen a team +18 not lose?  57.  Prior to this match, +18-rated teams were 57-0 and the losing team had only even won 1 set 6 times, never a 2nd set.  Now, the Super Vermilingua won three sets in the same match, half what the rest of the entire league pulled off in 4 and a half seasons!  Head-shaking congrats to David for surpassing John this season as Olmec's favorite and the Upset King until Upset from the Title!

Oh, and there's more to the Rats woes.  Next session, Shield opening round, versus Manitowoc on neutral court.  Derek (66) was a -10 UnderDecorativeBuildingFinish and didn't care. At least he let us play a fifth set en route to his own double-digit upset of New Orleans!  Congrats for the -10 upset to the Gargoyles as New Orleans just became the first-ever team to suffer double-digit upsets in back-to-back sessions!  We get the message Olmec!  Received!  Loud and Clear!

How shall we finish off?  We'll just note two things.  First, Nashville and Pekin have traded top lines all seasons, and their National Tourney opening round clash brought the best from both. Two teams have put out 93 away ratings, 97 home ratings, and 94 on neutral turf. Yep, the Red Pandas and the Peas. When then met in match 32, it was 94 v 94 for a 188 rating, the highest we've seen this season! Congrats Roy and Roger, and play on for glory!  What's the opposite of that you ask?  In the TMVL Cup, round 2 (round 2! As in the weaker ones are supposed to be in the Shield by now!), match 30. San Jose and Portland squared up, or something. For the opening Cup matches, 1 team posted a 90+ rating, 11 in the 80s, and 2 in the 70's. Then there were these two. The Shrimp (62) and the Flanned Fellsmen (65). The combined 127 was the lowest combined rating we've seen since match 6, eight sessions ago. It doesn't matter who won, because both Vick and Antionne earn the opposite of congrats for The Opposite of Trying Match of the Past Month!

It's a crazy last few sessions in store as we have 3 double-digit seeds in the Nat'l Tourney semis, and no conference is wrapped up with two matches to play, as the current leaders in all four could end in ties or could lose out and finish in 2nd or 4th in some cases!  Take this final warning, lady and gentlemen, no 'advantage' under 20 is safe this season, and perhaps not even that as we await what Olmec will next lay in store for some unlucky manager as we've topped a 50-point upset this season and now set a new Upset record as well, while also watching the #1 overall National Championship Tourney seed get swept in the opening round!  What's next?  Only Olmec knows and the BUM Report will tell (seriously, Olmec, we promise to post at least a little something the next two sessions, so let up a little, please?)